Joe Duarte (born August 4, 1983) is a retired professional

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting combat sport, sport based on strike (attack), striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-s ...

champion and investor from

Guam Guam ( ; ) is an island that is an Territories of the United States, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, and the most ...

, and is of native Chamorro descent.

Early life

Duarte grew up in the village of

Dededo Dededo (; Spanish: ) is the most populated village in the United States territory of Guam. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Dededo's population was just under 45,000 in 2020. The village is located on the coral plateau of Northern Guam. The gr ...

, the largest and most densely populated village on Guam. Actively involved in sports since the age of six, he helped lead several youth sporting organizations to their respective league championships and was also an avid mountain biker and waterman. He became involved in combat sports after being introduced to freestyle/folkstyle wrestling as an eighth-grade student at F.B. Leon Guerrero Middle School where he occasionally trained in western boxing. From 1997-2001, Duarte attended Simon A. Sanchez High School in

Yigo Yigo, Guam (; ) is the northernmost village of the United States territory of Guam, and is the location of Andersen Air Force Base. The municipality of Yigo is the largest village on the island in terms of area. It contains a number of populated pl ...

, Guam where he continued to do well in athletics. During this time, he earned various accomplishments competing in the DODEA Far East High Schools Wrestling Championships and winning multiple team championships in varsity football, track and field, and men's soccer in his senior year. Duarte began his mixed martial arts training early in high school. Duarte began training in submission grappling and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at Purebred Shooto Guam in Hagatna, Guam in 1999. Although a natural athlete with training as a wrestler, Duarte soon learned that the striking game was his key forte. Upon graduation from high school in 2001, Duarte dabbled in the local MMA scene that was still a fledgling sport with only a handful of local fighters fighting in the Shooto organization. After working a couple of odd jobs and playing community league football, Duarte took a chance and decided to leave home in search of better opportunities in the U.S. mainland, Duarte left Guam for

Kingsville, Texas Kingsville is a city in the South Texas, southern region of the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Kleberg County, Texas, Kleberg County. Located on the U.S. Route 77 in Texas, U.S. Route 77 corridor between Corpus Christi, Texas, Corpus C ...

in 2002. After leaving Guam, he made his way to Texas where he lived with his brother who was serving in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

at the time. While in Texas, Duarte started training at a community boxing gym in

Corpus Christi, Texas Corpus Christi ( ; ) is a Gulf Coast of the United States, coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat and largest city of Nueces County, Texas, Nueces County with portions extending into Aransas County, T ...

Military service

After his arrival in Texas, Duarte enlisted in the U.S. Army as an infantryman in 2002. Upon completion of

One Station Unit Training One Station Unit Training, sometimes referred to as One Site Unit Training, is a term used by the United States Army to refer to a training program in which recruits remain with the same unit for both Basic Combat Training (BCT) and Advanced Indi ...

, Duarte earned his

parachutist Parachuting and skydiving are methods of descending from a high point in an atmosphere to the ground or ocean surface with the aid of gravity, involving the control of speed during the descent using a parachute or multiple parachutes. For hu ...

wings. He was assigned to the

3rd Ranger Battalion The 3rd Ranger Battalion is the third of three Ranger Battalions belonging to the United States Army's 75th Ranger Regiment. It is currently based at Fort Benning, Georgia. History World War II Ranger Organization by Major Herman Dammer Aft ...

75th Ranger Regiment The 75th Ranger Regiment, also known as the United States Army Rangers, Army Rangers, is the United States Army Special Operations Command's premier light infantry and direct-action raid force. The 75th Ranger Regiment is also part of Joint S ...

in Fort Benning, Georgia. Duarte served multiple deployments of duty in

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

from 2003 to 2005 where he served as a team leader resulting in the loss of a close friend, Dean Richardson, during a firefight in Iraq's

Sunni Triangle The Sunni Triangle is a densely populated region of Iraq to the north and west of Baghdad inhabited mostly by Sunni Muslim Arabs. The roughly triangular area's points are usually said to lie near Baghdad (the southeast point), Ramadi (the southwes ...

. A physical altercation at regiment with a team leader resulted in Duarte transferring to serve with 1-41 Infantry Regiment(MECH)of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division out of

Fort Riley Fort Riley is a United States Army installation located in North Central Kansas, on the Kansas River, also known as the Kaw, between Junction City and Manhattan. The Fort Riley Military Reservation covers 101,733 acres (41,170 ha) in Ge ...

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

Mixed martial arts career

Duarte made his professional mixed martial arts (MMA) debut as a

light heavyweight Light heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the division is above and up to , falling between super middleweight and cruiserweight (boxing), cruiserweight. The light heavyweight class has ...

on September 9, 2006 at "Total Combat 16: Annihilation" in San Diego. He fought a three-round regulation match against Chris Kennedy and secured a

split decision A split decision (SD) is a winning criterion in boxing, most commonly in full-contact combat sports, in which two of the three judges score one particular competitor as the winner, while the third judge scores for the other competitor. A split de ...

victory. His next fight took place in the inaugural "Unleashed Fight/GP Galaxy" fight promotion as a

lightweight Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing (sport), rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) boxing weight classes, weight class in the spor ...

where he won a first round submission victory via

armbar An armlock in grappling is a single or double joint lock that hyperextends, hyperflexes or hyperrotates the elbow joint or shoulder joint. An armpit lock is very useful; it will immobilize an opponent and pin them on the ground. An armlock t ...

over Randy Bowers. He is the sole Unleashed Fight Lightweight champion with his first-round rear naked choke submission victory over Ulfrano Rodriguez on March 22, 2008. Duarte appeared on "

The Ultimate Fighter ''The Ultimate Fighter'' is an American reality television series and mixed martial arts (MMA) competition produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and Pilgrim Media Group currently airing on ESPN+. It previously aired for fourteen s ...

" (TUF) reality show against Phillipe Nover, who submitted Duarte via rear naked choke in the second round. Considered exhibition contests, the fights on TUF are not reflected upon a professional fighter's official record and thus Duarte remained undefeated in professional MMA competition (at that time) and improved his record to 4-0 with another submission victory over Pierre Dumont at "Colleseo Championship Fighting II: King of the Streets" on October 24, 2008. Duarte's next fight was against Kenny Raught at "Colloseo Championship Fighting III: Undisputed" on November 28, 2008 in

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

, Alberta, Canada. Duarte dominated the entire fight from the sound of the bell until out of sheer desperation, Raught winged a right hand that caught Duarte on the chin to give him his first loss of his professional career. On May 30, 2009, Duarte earned his fifth career victory with a first round TKO stoppage of David Gardner in the WarGods promotion held at the Viejas Casino in Alpine, California. On April 8, 2010, Duarte fought in the second season of the

Bellator Fighting Championships Bellator MMA (formerly Bellator Fighting Championships) was an American mixed martial arts promotion founded in 2008 by Bjorn Rebney and operated until 2025. The promotion takes its name from '' bellātor'', the Latin word for "warrior". Bellato ...

. With less than a week's notice, Duarte was to take on former collegiate wrestler Carey Vanier in the quarterfinal round of the Bellator Fighting Championships lightweight tournament. Duarte stepped into the cage at 156 lbs. after losing much of the weight within a 48-hour window. (Finnish fighter, Janne Turlinta, was not able to procure the necessary visa to fight in the United States, so Duarte was called in.) Duarte controlled much of the stand-up battle and consistently made the scramble back up to his feet after several takedown attempts by Vanier. Although visibly weakened by the rapid weight cut, Duarte continued to maneuver against Vanier but could not find an opportunity to effectively neutralize the takedown offense of Vanier, who grounded Duarte and worked to pass from Duarte's full guard. Varnier eventually worked into the side control position and continued to rain down punches before the referee called an end to the fight at the 4:14 mark in the third round. On August 12, 2011, Duarte marked another milestone in his storied fight career by fighting in Strikeforce Mixed Martial Arts' Challenger Series. Headlining as the Lightweight Main Event of the evening at the Pearl at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, Duarte squared off against Brazilian Jiu jitsu black belt and UFC veteran,

Jorge Gurgel Jorge Valente Gurgel (; ; born January 25, 1977) is a retired Brazilian mixed martial artist who competed in the Lightweight division. A professional competitor from 2002 to 2014, Gurgel is best known as a contestant on The Ultimate Fighter 2 and ...

. The fight was an excitingly rich stand-up battle with Duarte and Gurgel eager to square up in the middle of the cage trading blows. Duarte's blows to Gurgel's body and face quickly increased Gurgel sense of urgency and attempts at takedowns and swift body kicks to slow Duarte's pace. Duarte continued control much of the tempo of the fight skillfully controlling Gurgel and with well placed jabs and body shots. In the third and final round, Gurgel came out with a frenzied attack trying to stifle Duarte's offensive play. Muscling for a takedown, Gurgel landed under Duarte's mount and quickly spun to his butterfly guard. Well aware of the threat, Duarte kept the action close and controlled Gurgel's posturing from guard. Toward the end of the round, Duarte got back to his feet and Gurgel quickly followed. As Gurgel began to press forward and engage, Duarte capitalized by shooting for a double leg takedown and slamming Gurgel to the mat and continued to work body shots until the final buzzer sounded signaling the end of the final round. Thereby, Duarte earned the unanimous decision over Gurgel with all three judges scoring the bout 30-27, 29-28 respectively. On July 14, 2012, Duarte made a return to competition after almost a year long hiatus due to injury in the preliminaries of Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Kennedy held at the Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon. Coming off a five-fight winning streak since garnering a loss against Carey Varnier at Bellator Fighting Championships 13, Duarte stood ready to face Ryan Couture, the son of the former UFC Heavyweight champion, Light Heavyweight, and Hall of Famer,

Randy Couture Randall Duane Couture (; born June 22, 1963) is an American mixed martial arts commentator, actor, former United States Army sergeant, former professional mixed martial artist, and former Collegiate wrestling, collegiate and Greco-Roman wrestlin ...

Ryan Couture Ryan Duane Couture (born August 27, 1982) is a former American professional mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist who most recently competed in the Welterweight (MMA), Welterweight division of Bellator MMA. A professional competitor since 2009 ...

was also coming of a win streak of his own after taking the majority decision over Maka Watson and earning a TKO win over former International Fight League standout, Conor Heun. Duarte tried to be aggressive toward Couture by taking the middle of the cage and exploiting multiple angles of attack but none worked. Duarte would lose the bout via Split Decision. In his next bout, Duarte faced Saad Awad at Bellator 122 on July 25, 2014, in a rematch from their 2011 bout. Despite rocking Awad early, Duarte lost via TKO due to elbows in the first round.

Mixed martial arts record

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Temecula, California Temecula (; , ; Luiseño language, Luiseño: ''Temeekunga'') is a city in southwestern Riverside County, California, United States. The city had a population of 110,003 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and was Municipal corpora ...

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Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

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, Decision (unanimous) , Strikeforce Challengers: Gurgel vs. Duarte , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 16–2 , Saad Awad , Submission (armbar) , Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Daley , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 2:45 ,

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 15–2 , Amando Viramontes , Submission (strikes) , NFC Native Fighting Championships , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:12 ,

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 14–2 , Pablo Diaz , KO (punch) , NFC Native Fighting Championships , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 19 sec ,

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 13–2 , Kevin Blackwell , TKO (elbows and punches) , NFC Native Fighting Championships , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:15 ,

, United States , , - , Loss , align=center, 12–2 , Carey Vanier , TKO (punches) ,

Bellator 13 2010 in Bellator MMA was the second installment of the Bellator Fighting Championships (Bellator FC)-produced series. It started on April 8, 2010, and ended on June 24, 2010. Tournaments were held in the featherweight, lightweight, welterweight ...

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Hollywood, Florida Hollywood is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. It is a suburb in the Miami metropolitan area. The population of Hollywood was 153,067 as of 2020, making it the Broward County#Communities, third-largest city in Broward County, th ...

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 12–1 , David Gardner , TKO (punches) , War Gods 5 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 2:41 ,

, United States , , - , Loss , align=center, 11–1 , Kenny Raught , TKO (punches) , CCF 3: Undisputed , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 3:07 ,

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

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, Canada , , - , Win , align=center, 10–0 , Ulfrano Rodriguez , Submission (rear naked choke) , Unleashed Fight II: Showdown in Cali , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:27 ,

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 9–0 , Randy Bowers , Submission (armbar) , Galaxy Productions , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 2:47 ,

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References

External links

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The Arena - San Diego MMA
{{DEFAULTSORT:Duarte, Joe 1983 births Living people American practitioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu People awarded a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu Guamanian male mixed martial artists Lightweight mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists utilizing wrestling Mixed martial artists utilizing Brazilian jiu-jitsu People from Dededo, Guam Chamorro people